“Doesn’t anyone sleep around here?”





The Ice Kid looked up, doing a piss poor job at hiding his less than trilled reaction at seeing me standing in the doorway.





“Apparently not.”





I huffed and went into the kitchen, opened the fridge and groaned.





“Any beer around here?”





“This is a school.”





No shit asshole.





“I take that as a no?”





“No.”





Super. You’d think someone around here would drink a beer now and then.





“Got anything other than chocolate milk.” Cause that’s a One Eye drink if there’s ever been one.





“There should be some soda in that cabinet over there.”





Figuring that would be better than nothing, I grabbed one, popped off the cap and turned, looking at the kid.





He held out his hand, took the bottle, blew on it, causing it to ice over.





Check that out? Kid’s good for something.





I set down on the stool, deciding I’d get some information from this little prick, since he obviously had some interest in Marie.





*My Marie*





“So, how long you been going here?”





He shrugged. “About two years.”





“So you’re parents just sent you off to mutant school?”





“Actually, my parents don’t know…” He glanced at me and I nodded.





“So they think this is just a fancy private school?”





“With a jet under the basketball court.”





“I guess that could be a common thing.”





He half smiled, stirring at his ice cream.





Time to get down to business.





“So, you and Rogue…”





“It’s not what you think. It’s just…”





“Just what?”





“It’s just hard not being able to be as close as you want to be to someone.”





Okay. Not gonna claw him. Nope. Not gonna claw him even if he clearly had thought about things concerning Marie he didn’t need to be thinking about.





“You know, I’ve seen how you look at Dr. Grey.”





“Excuse me?”





“I’m just saying…”





Yeah, well, let me say a few things, bub.





“Sometimes you find a woman attractive and you flirt with her, but it don’t meant much at all, cause you know she belongs to someone else and more importantly, you know you belong to someone else.”





“Dr. Grey loves Mr. Summers.”





“That’s right.”





“And you…”





“You’re a smart boy. Put two and two together.”





He seemed to pale a little. “Why…”





“It ain’t time yet, but when it is, she’s gonna be mine cause in all the ways that matter, she already is, so what you’re gonna do is go on being nice to her, playing her little boyfriend for as long as she wants and when she does end it, you’re gonna be real good about it.”





“Logan…”





“And if ya touch her, I’m gonna claw ya. Period. Got it?”





He nodded. “Got it.”





“Good boy.”





“I…I just have a question…”





“What?”





“Are you sure she’s gonna want you?”





I had to smile at that. “What do you think?”





He looked down at his melted ice cream. “I think you’re right. She’s already yours.”





“Has been from the start, son.”





“I know.”





And the thing was, he did, but now, we had an understanding, one he would abide by, and for that, I almost had to respect the kid.





THE END